A well known type of AC drive includes an AC-to-DC converter for converting three-phase AC source voltages to DC voltages on a DC bus. The DC bus interfaces the AC-to-DC converter to a DC-to-AC inverter, which is typically a three-phase bridge network of solid state switches, which are switched at high frequency to generate pulse width modulation (PWM) or other types of modulated low frequency power signals which are supplied to an AC motor. Under certain operating conditions, these systems experience overvoltages due to transient waves that are reflected waves along the power lines between the motor and the control system.
One way of mitigating these reflected waves is to place chokes and passive filter components in the lines between the motor and the inverter as disclosed in Skibinski et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,990,654. This increases the number of components, however, as well as increasing manufacturing costs.
Other solutions for high speed operation have involved monitoring overvoltage conditions and altering modulating signals which in turn control firing signals provided to the inverter switching devices. In Kerkman et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,912,813, modulating waves are altered by tying them to the positive or negative DC bus and by limiting their magnitude in situations which would cause an overvoltage. Further developments of this basic approach are provided in Leggate et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,541,933.
In Kerkman et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,819,070, initial firing pulse characteristics are identified and then compared to pulse characteristics known to cause an overvoltage. The initial firing pulse is then altered so as not to cause overvoltage, and an accumulated error corresponding to the altered firing pulse is identified. The firing pulse following the altered firing pulse is modified as a function of the accumulated error to generate a composite firing pulse, and the process of identifying, comparing and altering, is repeated for subsequent firing pulses.
In Kerkman et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,014,497, a dwell time is calculated based on certain parameters of the power lines to determine the voltages to produce in the inverter without causing overvoltages.
Other known methods implement a minimum dwell time at high motor speeds by eliminating narrow pulses near the peak and valley of the modulator as transitions into or out of overmodulation occur. One method basically drops narrow pulses when the pulse time becomes less than the required dwell time.
Although voltage polarity reversals and double pulsing are most likely at high modulation indexes (i.e. high motor speeds), voltage polarity reversals can occur throughout the operating region of the inverter. In general, such events occur when phase current is within a threshold of current polarity reversal during the dead time interval. These conditions exist in applications during low speed operation. When the motor speed is low, the applied motor voltage is also typically low and the three motor voltage phases are nearly the same magnitude and provide nearly 50% duty cycles out of the modulator. The motor power factor is also nearly 1.0. An uncontrolled region of operation occurs where the current changes polarity, where currents exist due to parasitic capacitances and where traveling wave conditions exist. In this region, uncontrolled voltage double pulsing and polarity reversals can occur. This uncontrolled region corresponds to the dead time region of the inverter. The end result is greater than two times source voltage at the motor.